TF 


DOCUMENT 


PROVE  THE  SUPERIOR  ADVANTAGES 


K  A I  L  -  W  A  Y  S 


STEAM    CARRIAGES 


CANAL    NAVIGATION 


NEW-YORK: 

P  R  I  X  T  E  D    B  Y    T  .     v     J  .    tf  W  0  R  D  P  , 


REPRINTED  BY  STANFORD  &  SWOIIDS,  187  BROADWAY. 

1852.' 


DOCUMENTS 


PROVE  THE  SUPERIOR  ADVANTAGES 


RAIL-WAYS 


STEAM    CARRIAGES 


CANAL    NAVIGATION, 


NEW-YORK: 

PRINTED  BY  T.  &  J.  SWORDS, 

NO.  160  PEARL-STREET. 
1812. 

REPRINTED  BY  STANFORD  &  SWORDS,  137  BROADWAY. 

1852. 


DOT 

PREFACE 


The  Pamphlet,  here  reproduced  forty  years  after  its  first  appearance, 
will  now,  in  the  light  of  its  fulfilled  and  realized  speculations,  be  read 
with  a  degree  of  interest  and  admiration  which,  at  the  period  of  its 
publication,  it  failed  to  attract 

Having,  while  recently  preparing  a  paper  on  the  growth  of  the  city 
of  New-York  during  the  last  half  century,  been  led  into  some  investiga- 
tions as  to  the  pioneers  in  the  construction  of  steamboats  and  railroads, 
.  and  remembering  something  of  a  pamphlet  about  railroads,  published 
many  years  before,  by  Col.  Stevens,  of  Hoboken,  I  long  sought  for  a 
copy  of  it,  and  at  last,  one  was  found  among  the  bound  pamphlets  of 
the  New-York  Society  Library. 

Upon  being  informed  of  its  existence,  the  sons  of  the  ingenious  au- 
thor obtained  permission  to  have  it  copied,  determining  to  reprint  it  in 
honor  of  their  distinguished  father,  and  they  placed  the  MS.  in  my 
hands  for  that  purpose. 

It  seemed  altogether  fitting  that  the  direct  successors  of  the  publish- 
ers, who  had  given  the  original  to  the  world,  should  be  invited  to  print 
this  edition  :  and  accordingly  it  bears  the  impress  of  Stanford  &  Swordt, 
137  Broadway,  1852,  as  its  original  bore  that  of  T.  &  J.  Swords,  160 
Pearl  St.,  1812  :  thus  marking  at  once  perpetuity  and  change. 

Of  the  author  of  this  pamphlet,  Col.  John  Stevens,  of  Hoboken,  a 
fitting  memorial  is  yet  to  be  written,  for  he  was,  emphatically,  a  benefac- 
tor of  his  country  and  his  race.  Born  to  affluence,  his  whole  life  was 
devoted  to  experiments,  at  his  own  cost;  for  the  common  good. 

Mr.  Stevens  was  a  native  of  this  city,  where  he.  was  born  in  the 
year  1749.  His  grandfather,  John  Stevens,  a  native  of  England,  came 

to  the  colony  of  New- York,  in ,  as  one  of  the  Law  Officers  of  the 

Crown.  His  father,  John  Stevens,  became  a  resident  of  New  Jersey, 
and  married  Elizabeth  .Alexander,  descended  from  one  of  the  original 
proprietors  of  New  Jersey,  and  was  himself  much  in  public  stations 
there — and  for  a  time  Vice  President  of  the  Council. 

John  Stevens,  of  whom  we  are  treating,  though  born  in  this  city, 
was  a  Jersey  man  by  residence,  and  eventually  by  his  marriage  with 
Rachael  Cox,  daughter  of  John  Cox,  of  Bloomsbury,  N.  J.,  who  also 


Jr  PREFACE. 

for  many  years  was  Vice  President  of  the  Council  of  that  State.  Mr 
Stevens  himself  was  for  several  years  Treasurer  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Stevens'  attention  was  first  turned,  or  rather  the  bent  of  his  ge- 
nius was  developed  and  directed,  towards  mechanics  and  mechanical 
philosophy,  by  the  accident  of  seeing,  in  1787,  the  early,  and  as  now 
may  be  said  imperfect  steamboat  of  John  Fitch,  navigating  the  Dela- 
ware river.  He  was  driving  in  his  phaeton  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  when  the  mysterious  craft,  without  sails  or  oars,  passed  by  ;  Mr. 
Stevens'  interest  was  excited — he  followed  the  boat  to  its  landing — fa- 
miliarized himself  with  the  design  and  the  details  of  this  new  and  curious 
combination,  and  from  that  hour  became  a  thoroughly  excited  and  un- 
wearied experimenter  in  the  applications  of  steam  to  locomotion  on  the 
water,  and  subsequently  on  the  land. 

Having  been  brought,  by  close  family  connection,  into  intimacy 
with  Robt.  R.  Livingston,  (the  Chancellor  of  this  State,  who  married  the 
sister  of  Col.  Stevens,)  he  induced  Mr.  L.  to  join  him  in  these  investi- 
gations, and  they  were  persevered  in  at  great  cost  and  with  little  imme- 
diate success  till  Chancellor  Livingston,  in  1801—2,  was  sent  as  minister 
to  France. 

So  much  however  was  the  Chancellor  encouraged  by  the  experi- 
ments then  made,  that  as  early  as  1798  he  obtained  from  the  Legisla- 
ture of  New-York,  an  exclusive  grant  for  the  use  of  steam  on  the  waters 
of  New- York.  This,  however,  became  forfeit  by  the  failure  to  avail 
within  the  limited  time  of  its  privileges. 

But  previously  to  the  Act  of  '98  the  Legislature  of  New- York  had, 
as  early  as  1787,  granted  successively  to  James  Rumsey  and  to  John 
Fitch  the  exclusive  right  to  navigate  the  waters  of  the  State  with  steam 
propelled  vessels  ;  and  on  9th  January,  1789,  John  Stevens  petitioned 
the  Legislature  for  a  like  grant — nothing  having  resulted  from  the  pre- 
ceding ones.  Mr.  Stevens  in  his  petition  says  that,  "  to  the  best  of  his 
knowledge  and  belief,  his  scheme  is  altogether  new,  and  does  not  inter- 
fere with  the  inventions  of  either  of  the  other  gentlemen  who  have 
applied  to  your  honorable  body  for  an  exclusive  right  of  navigating  by 
means  of  steam."  The  petitioner  adds  that  he  had  "  made  an  exact 
draught  of  the  different  parts  of  his  machine,  which,  with  an  explana- 
tion thereof,  he  is  ready  to  exiibit."  The  prayer  of  the  petition  was 
unsuccessful;  but  these  draughts  should  be  among  the  papers  of  the 
late  Col.  Stevens,  and  at  this  day  would  be  curious. 

Mr.  Stevens,  meanwhile,  never  renounced  his  experiments  nor  des- 
paired of  success,  and  in  1804  he  actually  constructed  a  propeller,  (a 


PREFACE.  v 

small  open  boat,  "worked  by  steam,)  with  such  decided  success  that  he 
was  encouraged  to  go  on  aud  build  the  Phenix,  steamboat,  on  his  own 
plan  and  model,  and  had  her  ready  almost  contemporaneously  with,  but 
a  little  after,  the  first  steamboat  of  Fulton,  the  ClermonL  The  Cler- 
mont  entitled  Mr.  Fulton  and  Chancellor  Livingston,  who  was  co-oper- 
ating with  Fulton,  to  the  benefit  of  the  law ,  which  had  been  revived  by 
the  State  of  New- York,  granting  a  monopoly  of  the  waters  of  the  State, 
and  thus  Mr.  Stevens'  steamboat  was  excluded  from  those  waters.  On 
the  Delaware,  however,  and  on  the  Connecticut  he  placed  boats  ;  and 
his  eminent  son,  Robt.  L.  Stevens,  having  embraced  his  father's  views, 
was  now  at  work  with  him  to  improve  the  known,  and  invent  new  re- 
sources for  accelerated  steam  conveyance. 

In  1 8 1 2,  j ust  before  the  commencement  of  the  war  with  England,  and 
when  this  State  was  first  addressing  itself  to  the  thought  of  connecting 
the  waters  of  the  lakes  with  those  of  the  ocean  by  the  Hudson,  a 
thought,  very  rapidly  matured  in  the  sequel,  by  the  delays  and  now  in- 
credible cost  in  transporting  troops,  artillery  aud  munitions  during  the 
war  from  the  sea-board  to  the  lakes,  Col.  Stevens  put  forth  the  pam- 
phlet here  reproduced, -urging  that  rail-roads  and  steam-carriages  should 
be  preferred  to  canals  and  canal  boats. 

At  that  day  not  a  locomotive  existed  in  the  world — and  the  only 
railroads  were  those  few,  and  short  tram-roads,  as  they  were  called 
in  England,  connecting  for  the  most  part  coal  mines  with  canals,  or 
other  water  transportation,  and  upon  which  carriages  with  the  ordinary 
wheels  turning  upon  their  axle-trees  were  drawn  by  horses.  The  car- 
riages were  prevented  from  running  off  sideways  by  a  flange  rising  some 
inches  above  the  outer  edge  of  the  flat  rail.  In  this  state  of  knowledge 
and  experience  of  railroads  it  was  that,  in  1812,  Col.  Stevens  made  pub- 
lic, in  the  following  pamphlet,  his  extraordinary  and  most  sagacious 
views  and  accurate  calculations  respecting,  not  only  the  feasibility  of 
applying  steam  to  locomotion  on  land,  but  the  precise  mode  of  such 
application  :  its  cost,  and  its  almost  illimitable  advantages.  It  seems 
all  but  impossible  to  realize  the  fact,  when  carefully  reading  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  rail-way,  of  the  locomotive— of  its  wheels  made  fast  to  the 
axle,  and  revolving  not  on  but  with  it,  and  held  by  flanges  on  the  inner 
periphery,  from  flying  off  at  a  tangent,  of  a  whole  train,  or  "  suit,"  as  he 
calls  it,  of  rail-way  carriages,  "all  firmly  attached  to  each  other,  and  pur- 
suing the  same  direction :"  and  of  the  possible  speed  they  might  attain 
of  40  or  50  miles  an  hour,  bul  that  probably  "it  would  in  practice  be 
found  convenient  not  to  exceed  20  or  30  miles  an  hour  ;"  it  seems,  I  re- 


Ti  PBEFACE- 

peat,  almost  impossible  to  realize  the  fact  that,  at  that  day  no  locomo- 
tive existed  except  in  the  creative  and  ingenious  mind  of  the  writer ;  and 
that  no  railroad,  such  as  he  needed  for  his  unrevealed  plan,  had  ever 
been  laid  down. 

If  he  had  seen  then,  what  he  lived  to  see  afterwards,  and  from  the 
handiwork  and  genius  mainly  of  his  son  Robert  on  the  Camden  and 
Amboy  Railroad,  the  spectacle,  ever  impressive,  however  frequently 
witnessed,  of  long  trains  of  care  sweeping  on  with  the  rapidity  of  the 
pigeon's  flight,  he  could  not  have  described  with  more  absolute  accuracy 
all  the  details  of  such  a  train,  such  a  road,  and  such  a  locomotive,  than 
is  done  in  the  prophetic  pamphlet  of  1812. 

He  was  treated  as  a  "  visionary  projector."  Time  has  vindicated 
his  claim  to  the  character  of  a  far-seeing,  accurate,  and  skilful  practical 
Experimentalist  and  Inventor ;  and  who  can  estimate,  if  at  that  day, 
acting  upon  the  well  considered  suggestion  of  President  Madison,  "of  the 
signal  advantages  to  be  derived  to  the  United  States  from  a  general  sys- 
tem of  internal  communication  and  conveyance,"  Congress  had  enter- 
tained Col.  Stevens'  proposals,  and  after  verifying,  by  actual  experiment 
upon  a  small  scale,  the  accuracy  of  his  plan,  had  organized  such  a  "gene- 
ral system  of  internal  communication  and  conveyance ;"  who  can  begin 
to  estimate  the  inappreciable  benefits  that  would  have  resulted  there- 
from to  the  comfort,  the  wealth,  the  power,  and  above  all  to  the  abso- 
lutely impregnable  union  of  our  great  Republic  and  all  its  component 
parts? 

All  this,  too,  Col.  Stevens  embraced  in  his  views ;  for  he  was  a 
Statesman  as  well  as  an  Experimental  Philosopher ;  and  whosoever 
shall  attentively  read  this  pamphlet  will  perceive  that  the  political,  finan- 
cial, commercial  and  military  aspects  of  this  great  question  were  all  pre- 
sent to  Col.  Stevens'  mind  ;  and  he  felt  that  he  was  fulfilling  a  patri- 
otic duty  when  he  placed  at  the  disposal  of  his  native  country,  these 
fruits  of  his  genius. 

The  offering  was  not  accepted.  The  THINKER  was  ahead  of  his 
age;  but  it  is  grateful  to  know  that  he  lived  to  see  his  projects  car- 
ried out,  though  not  by  the  government— and  that,  before  he  finally 
in  1838,  closed  his  eyes  in  death,  at  the  great  age  of  89,  he  could 
justly  feel  assured  that  the  name  of  Stevens,  in  his  own  person  and  that 
of  his  sons,  was  imperishably  enrolled  among  those  which  a  grateful 
country  will  cherish. 

I  will  detain  the  reader  no  longer  frofn  the  pamphlet. 
Col  Coll.,  New- York,  May,  1852.  CHAS.  KINO. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  following  documents  on  a  subject  calculated,  I  should 
suppose,  to  attract  public  attention,  are  committed  to  the 
press  from  an  estimation  of  their  importance,  and  from  a  con- 
viction of  the  practicability  of  the  proposed  improvement. 
On  a  subject  of  such  deep  interest  to  the  community  at  large, 
I  presume  no  apology  will  be  necessary  for  the  liberty  I  now 
take  of  laying  before  the  public  private  communications. 

Had  the  subject  matter  of  this  publication  been  exhibited 
to  public  view  in  the  shape  of  an  entire  and  connected  essay, 
written  expressly  for  the  purpose,  numerous  repetitions  and 
inaccuracies,  both  in  style  and  matter,  would  not  have  oc- 
curred. But,  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  that  the  desultory 
manner  in  which  it  is  now  handled,  and  the  unavoidable  re- 
petitions necessarily  resulting  therefrom,  will  render  it  more 
generally  impressive. 

Although  my  proposal  has  failed  to  gain  the  approbation 
of  the  Commissioners  for  the  improvement  of  inland  naviga- 
tion in  the  State  of  New-York,  yet  I  feel  by  no  means  dis- 
couraged respecting  the  final  success  of  the  project.  The 
very  objections  their  committee  have  brought  forward  serve 
only  to  increase,  if  possible,  my  confidence  in  the  superiority 
of  the  proposed  railways  to  canals. 

So  many  and  so  important  are  the  advantages  which  these 
States  would  derive  from  the  general  adoption  of  the  pro- 


yjii  INTRODUCTION. 

posed  railways,  that  they  ought,  in  my  humble  opinion,  to 
become  an  object  of  primary  attention  to  the  national  govern- 
ment. The  insignificant  sum  of  two  or  three  thousand  dol- 
lars would  be  adequate  to  give  the  project  a  fair  trial.  On 
the  success  of  this  experiment  a  plan  should  be  digested,  "  a 
general  system  of  internal  communication  and  conveyance  " 
adopted,  and  the  necessary  surveys  made  for  the  extension  of 
these  ways  in  all  directions,  so  as  to  embrace  and  unite  every 
section  of  this  extensive  empire.  It  might  then,  indeed,  be 
truly  said,  that  these  States  would  constitute  one  family,  in- 
timately connected,  and  held  together  in  indissolubls  bonds  of 
union. 

Should  the  national  government  be  induced  to  make  an 
appropriation  to  the  amount  above  stated,  an  experiment 
could  soon  be  made,  either  in  the  vicinity  of  this  city,  or  at 
"Washington,  as  may  be  deemed  most  expedient. 

But  the  attention  of  the  general  government  is  urged 
more  imperatively  to  this  object,  from  the  consideration  of  its 
great  national  importance  in  a  fiscal  point  of  view.  If  any 
reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  calculations  I  have  made,  the 
revenue  which  this  mode  of  transportation,  when  brought 
into  general  use,  would  be  capable  of  producing,  would  far 
exceed  the  aggregate  amount  of  duties  on  foreign  importa- 
tions. However  extravagant  this  position  may  at  first  sight 
appear,  I  contend  it  is  capable  of  the  strictest  demonstration. 
It  is  an  indisputable  fact,  that  the  aggregate  amount  of  inter- 
nal commerce  is  vastly  greater  than  that  of  external  com- 
merce. 

But  one  half  of  the  latter,  viz.,  exports,  are  by  the  consti- 
tution exempted  from  the  payment  of  duties ;  the  other  half, 
foreign  imports  only,  are  subject  to  the  payment  of  duties. 

The  far  greater  part  of  domestic  commerce  consists  of 
balky  articles,  many  of  which  now  pay  fifty  per  cent,  on 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

transportation  to  market.  By  the  introduction  of  the  proposed 
railways,  nine-tenths  at  least  of  this  enormous  tax  would  in 
many  instances  be  saved,  and  the  expense  of  transportation 
reduced  from  fifty  to  five  per  cent.  A  toll  of  five  per  cent, 
would  raise  it  to  ten  per  cent.  But  still  the  farmer,  remotely 
situated,  would  save  four-fifths  of  his  present  expense  in  the 
transportation  of  his  produce  to  market.  An  average  toll, 
then,  of  five  per  cent,  would  constitute  a  very  moderate  im- 
post. But  the  product  of  such  impost  would,  at  no  distant 
period,  be  immense.  That  it  would  far  exceed  any  amount 
which  could  possibly  be  derived  from  duties  on  foreign  im- 
ports, cannot  admit  of  a  doubt. 

At  a  period  like  the  present,  when  the  ordinary  sources  of 
revenue  no  longer  continue  to  pour  into  the  treasury  of  the 
United  States  their  tributary  streams,  and  when,  too,  we  are 
called  upon  to  make  "arrangements  and  exertions  for  the 
general  security,"  at  such  a  period,  the  merits  of  a  system 
promising,  not  merely  to  facilitate  most  astonishingly  "  inter- 
nal communication  and  conveyance,"  but  to  furnish  new  and 
abundant  sources  of  revenue,  ought  surely  to  command  the 
attention  of  the  general  government,  and  cannot  fail  to  "  be 
seen  in  the  strongest  lights." 

The  extension  and  completion  of  the  main  arteries  of  such 
a  system  of  communication  would  by  no  means  be  a  work  of 
time.  It  would  be  exempted  totally  from  the  difficulties, 
embarrassments,  casualties,  interruptions,  and  delays  incident 
to  the  formation  of  canals.  Requiring  no  supply  of  water — 
no  precision  and  accuracy  in  leveling,  the  work  could  be  com- 
menced and  carried  on  in  various  detached  parts  ;  its  progress 
would  be  rapid,  and  its  completion  could  be  ascertained  with 
certainty.  Innumerable  ramifications  would,  from  time  to 
time,  be  extended  in  every  direction.  Thus  would  the  sources 
of  private  and  public  wealth,  going  hand  in  hand,  increase 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

\vith  a  rapidity  beyond  all  parallel.  For  every  shilling  con- 
tributed towards  the  revenue,  a  dollar  at  least  would  be  put 
into  the  hands  of  individuals. 

But  there  remains  another  important  point  of  view,  in 
which  this  improvement  demands  the  attention  of  the  general 
government.  The  celerity  of  communication  it  would  afford 
with  the  distant  sections  of  our  wide  extended  empire,  is  a 
consideration  of  the  utmost  moment.  To  the  rapidity  of  the 
motion  of  a  steam  carriage  on  these  railways  no  definite  limit 
can  be  set.  The  flying  Proas,  as  they  are  called  by  voyagers, 
belonging  to  the  natives  of  the  islands  in  the  Pacific  ocean, 
are  said  at  times  to  sail  more  than  twenty  miles  an  hour. 
Since  the  resistance  of  the  water  to  the  progress  of  a  vessel 
increases  as  the  square  of  her  velocity,  it  is  obvious  that  the 
power  required  to  propel  her  must  also  be  increased  in  the 
same  ratio.  Not  so  with  a  steam-carriage.  As  it  moves  in  a 
fluid  800  times  more  rare  than  water,  the  resistance  will  be 
proportionably  diminished.  Indeed,  the  principal  resistance 
to  its  motion  arises  from  friction,  which  does  not  even  in- 
crease in  a  direct  ratio  with  the  velocity  of  the  carriage.  If, 
then,  a  Proa  can  be  driven  by  the  wind  (the  propulsive  power 
of  which  is  constantly  diminishing,  as  the  velocity  of  the  Proa 
increases)  through  so  dense  a  fluid  as  water,  at  the  rate  of 
twenty  miles  an  hour,  I  can  see  nothing  to  hinder  a  steam 
carriage  from  moving  on  these  ways  with  a  velocity  of  one 
hundred  miles  an  hour.* 

I  will  now  just  observe,  that  should  it  be  considered  an 
object  of  sufficient  importance,  sails  might  be  used  whenever 
the  wind  was  favorable.  Van  Bram  gives  a  curious  account 

*  This  astonishing  velocity  is  considered  here  as  merely  possible.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  it  may  not  in  practice  be  convenient  to  exceed  twenty  or  thirty  miles 
per  hour.  Actual  experiments,  however,  can  alone  determine  this  matter,  and  I 
should  not  be  surprised  at  seeing  steam -carriages  propelled  at  the  rate  of  forty  or 
fifty  miles  an  hour. 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

of  the  peasantry  in  the  country  round  Pekin,  availing  them- 
selves of  sails,  when  the  wind  favors  them,  for  propelling  the 
wheelbarrows  in  which  their  products  are  carried  to  markets. 

In  a  military  point  of  view,  the  advantages  resulting  from 
the  establishment  of  these  railways  and  steam-carriages  would 
be  incalculable.  It  would  at  once  render  our  frontiers  on 
every  side  invulnerable.  Armies  could  be  conveyed  in  twen- 
ty-four hours  a  greater  distance  than  it  would  now  take  them 
weeks,  or  perhaps  months,  to  march. 

Thus,  then,  this  improvement  would  afford  us  prompt  and 
effectual  means,  not  only  of  guarding  against  the  attacks  of 
foreign  enemies,  but  of  expeditiously  quelling  internal  com- 
motions, and  thus  securing  and  preserving  for  ever  domestic 
tranquility. 

Whatever  constitutional  doubts  may  be  entertained  re- 
specting the  power  of  Congress  to  cut  and  form  canals,  there 
can  be  none  about  the  power  to  lay  out  and  make  roads. 

I  shall  now  close  this  topic  with  an  extract  of  a  message 
from  President  Madison  to  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States  : 

"  The  utility  of  canal  navigation  is  universally  admitted  ; 
and  it  is  not  less  certain,  that  scarcely  any  country  offers 
more  extensive  opportunities  for  that  branch  of  improvements 
than  the  United  States ;  and  none,  perhaps,  inducements 
equally  persuasive,  to  make  the  most  of  them.  The  particu- 
lar undertaking  contemplated  by  the  State  of  New- York, 
which  marks  an  honorable  spirit  of  enterprise,  and  comprises 
objects  of  national,  as  well  as  more  limited  importance,  will 
recal  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  signal  advantages  to 
be  derived  to  the  United  States  from  a  general  system  of  in- 
ternal communication  and  conveyance  ;  and  suggest  to  their 
consideration  whatever  steps  may  be  proper  on  their  part  to- 
wards its  introduction  and  accomplishment.  As  some  of 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

those  advantages  have  an  intimate  connection  with  arrange- 
ments and  exertions  for  the  general  security,  it  is  at  a  period 
calling  for  these,  that  the  merits  of  such  a  system  will  be 
seen  in  the  strongest  lights.  "  JAMES  MADISON. 

"  Washing-ton,  Dec.  2d,  1811." 

From  local  circumstances,  these  rail-ways  are  calculated  to 
become  pre-eminently  beneficial  to  the  Southern  States.  The 
great  predominance  of  sand,  and  the  deficiency  of  gravel  or 
stone,  precludes  the  practicability  of  making  good  turnpike 
roads ;  but  the  level  surface,  and  great  abundance  of  pine 
timber  throughout  this  district  of  country,  would  not  only 
render  the  construction  of  these  rail- ways  very  cheap,  but  pe- 
culiarly advantageous.  By  preserving  nearly  a  horizontal 
level,  the  power  requisite  for  the  transportation  of  heavy  ^bodies 
would  be  reduced  astonishingly.  The  cheapness  of  fuel  would 
reduce  too,  the  expense  of  supporting  this  power  to  almost 
nothing.  Articles  would  be  transported  one  hundred  miles 
on  these  ways  at  less  expense  than  they  could  now  be  carried 
one  mile  on  a  deep  sandy  road.  This  projected  improvement 
is  surely  then  an  object  worthy  of  the  most  serious  attention 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Southern  States.  It  would  at  once 
more  than  double  the  value  of  their  products.  It  appears  to 
me  calculated  to  hold  out  the  most  flattering  prospects  of  gain 
to  such  enterprising  individuals  or  companies  as  might  be  in- 
duced to  embark  a  capital  in  this  object. 

But,  I  consider  it  in  every  point  of  view  so  exclusively  an 
object  of  national  concern,  that  I  shall  give  no  encouragement 
to  private  speculations,  until  it  is  ascertained  that  Congress 
will  not  be  disposed  to  pay  any  attention  to  it. 

Should  it  however  be  destined  to  remain  unnoticed  by  the 
General  Government,  1  must  confess  I  should  feel  much  regret, 
not  so  much  from  personal,  as  from  public  considerations.  I 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

am  anxious  and  ambitious  that  my  native  country  should 
have  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  introduce  an  improve- 
ment of  such  immense  importance  to  society  at  large,  and 
should  feel  the  utmost  reluctance  at  being  compelled  to  resort 
to  foreigners  in  the  first  instance.  As  no  doubt  exists  in  my 
mind,  but  that  the  value  of  the  improvement  would  be  duly 
appreciated  and  carried  into  immediate  effect  by  trans-Atlan- 
tic governments,  I  haye  been  the  more  urgent  in  pressing  the 
subject  on  the  attention  of  Congress.  "Whatever  then  may 
be  its  fate,  should  this  appeal  be  considered  obtrusive  and 
unimportant,  or  from  whatever  other  cause  or  motive  should 
it  be  suffered  to  remain  unheeded,  I  still  have  the  consolation 
of  having  performed  what  I  conceive  to  be  a  public  duty. 

JOHN  STEVENS. 

JUW-YORK,  May  15,  1812. 


DOCUMENTS,  &C. 


NO.  1. 

Copy  of  a  Letter  addressed  to  DeWitt  Clinton,  Esq. 

NEW-YORK,  February  24,  1812. 
The  Hon.  DsWiTT  CLINTON,  Esq. : 

Sir — I  enclose  a  memoir  addressed  to  the  Commissioners 
for  exploring  an  inland  navigation,  &c. 

The  more  I  reflect  on  the  plan  I  have  proposed,  the  more 
thorough  is  my  conviction,  not  merely  of  its  practicability, 
but  that  it  must  eventually  supercede  every  other  mode  of 
conveyance,  where  the  nature  of  the  country  will  admit  of  its 
introduction.  Under  such  impressions,  I  consider  myself  im- 
pelled by  duty  to  urge  its  adoption  by  the  Commissioners. 
An  experiment  sufficiently  extensive,  to  ascertain  unquestion- 
ably its  real  merits  or  demerits,  could  be  triod  at  the  expense 
of  two  or  three  thousand  dollars. 

"With  sentiments  of  respect,  I  am,  Sir,  your  ob't  serv't, 

JOHN  STEVENS. 


NO.  2. 

Copy  of  Mr.  De  Witt  Clinton's  answer  to  the  above. 

ALBANY,  March  2,  1812. 

Dear  Sir, — I  received  your  interesting  communication  ad- 
dressed to  the  Commissioners  of  inland  navigation,  &c.  and 
shall  lay  it  before  the  Board  at  their  first  meeting. 

With  my  best  compliments,  I  am  yours  respectfully, 
JOHN  STEVENS,  ESQ.  DE  WITT  CLINTON. 


No.  3. 

Copy  ffa  Memoir  addressed  to  the  Commissioners. 

To  the  Hon.,  the  Commissioners  for  exploring  the  route  of  an 
Inland  Navigation,  &c. 


16  DOCUMENTS. 

The  report  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  this  State,  to  explore  the  route  of  an  inland  navigation 
from  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake  Erie,  contains 
a  luminous  exposition  of  the  vast  importance  of  facilitating 
the  intercourse  between  the  western  country  and  the  tide- 
waters of  Hudson's  River. 

The  plan  suggested  of  bringing  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  in 
a  Canal,  on  an  inclined  plane  of  three  hundred  miles  in  length, 
to  communicate  with  Hudson's  River,  is  unparalleled  for  the 
boldness  of  its  conception,  and  the  grandeur  of  its  object. 
But  the  magnitude  of  such  an  undertaking  must  necessarily 
protract  the  completion  of  it  to  a  very  distant  day,  and  will 
have  a  powerful  tendency  to  make  many  hesitate  respecting 
the  expediency  of  incurring  so  heavy  an  expenditure  upon  an 
object  presenting  so  distant  a  prospect  of  remuneration. 

Still,  however,  I  must  concur  most  heartily  with  the  Com- 
missioners, when  they  observe,  "  that  no  supposable  expense 
can  bear  an  undue  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  work.  Thus, 
were  it  (by  giving  a  loose  to  fancy)  extended  to  fifty  millions 
of  dollars,  even  that  enormous  sum  does  not  exceed  half  the 
value  of  what,  in  all  human  probability,  and  at  no  distant 
period,  will  annually  be  carried  along  the  Canal.  The  more 
proper  question  perhaps  is,  in  what  time  it  can  be  effected  ?" 

But,  independently  of  the  great  consumption  of  time  and 
money  incident  to  so  vast  an  undertaking,  there  are  other 
circumstances  which  require  serious  consideration. 

The  contemplated  route  of  this  Canal  lies  nearly  in  an  east 
course  from  Lake  Erie  to  Albany,  and  in  a  high  northern  lati- 
tude, where  every  thing  remains  locked  up  by  frost  for  almost 
five  months  during  the  winter  season.  Whereas,  the  south- 
ern border  of  Lake  Erie  is  in  a  latitude  one  and  a  half  degree 
lower,  from  whence  easy  communications  may  be  formed 
with  the  head  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Susquehannah, 
and  but  little  interrupted  by  ice. 


DOCUMENTS.  17 

These  routes,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  very  circuitous,  and 
the  navigation  of  the  natural  rivers  in  their  present  state,  very 
troublesome  and  tedious.  From  the  nearest  point  on  Lake 
Erie,  to  tide-water  on  the  Delaware,  at  Philadelphia — on  the 
Chesapeake,  at  Havre  de  Grace,  or  Baltimore,  in  a  straight 
line — is  but  a  few  miles  farther  than  to  Albany.  But  to  form 
a  practicable  navigation  to  either  of  those  places  by  means  of 
Canals,  would  make  a  difference  of  at  least  an  hundred  miles 
in  favor  of  Albany.  But  as  it  respects  the  nature  of  the 
ground  through  which  these  Canals  must  pass,  there  is  no 
comparison  ;  so  great  and  so  numerous  are  the  elevations,  that 
the  route  to  Albany  is  comparatively  level.  "When,  in  addi- 
tion to  these  advantageous  circumstances,  we  take  into  con- 
sideration the  decided  superiority  of  the  City  of  New- York, 
in  a  commercial  point  of  view,  it  will  not  be  practicable  to 
divert  into  another  channel  the  current  of  trade,  when  once 
fairly  established  from  the  interior  to  this  city.  When,  there- 
fore, the  immense  magnitude  of  this  internal  commerce  is 
duly  appreciated,  every  individual  inhabitant  of  this  State, 
but  more  especially  of  this  city,  ought  to  feel  himself  inter- 
ested in  the  accomplishment  of  so  grand  an  object. 

From  the  above  view  of  the  subject,  it  appears  that  there  are 
two  considerations  of  primary  importance  to  be  attended  to: — 
first,  that  this  communication  with  the  western  country  be 
completed  with  all  possible  dispatch  ;  and  next,  that  if  practic- 
ablo,  such  a  mode  of  effecting  the  purpose  be  adopted,  as  that 
the  travel  shall  at  no  time  be  interrupted. 

"Without  further  preface,  I  will  now  proceed  to  propose  a 
plan,  which,  I  flatter  myself,  embraces  both  these  important 
objects.  Let  a  railway  of  timber  be  formed,  by  the  nearest 
practicable  route,  between  Lake  Erie  and  Albany.  The  angle 
of  elevation  in  no  part  to  exceed  one  degree,  or  such  an  eleva- 
tion, whatever  it  may  be,  as  will  admit  of  wheel-carriages  to 


18  DOCUMENTS. 

remain  stationary  when  no  power  is  exerted  to  impel  them 
forward.  This  railway,  throughout  its  course,  to  be  support- 
ed on  pillars  raised  from  three  to  five  or  six  feet  from  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground.  The  carriage  wheels  of  cast  iron,  the 
rims  flat,  with  projecting  flanges,  to  fit  on  the  surface  of  the 
railways.  The  moving  power  to  be  a  steam  engine,  nearly 
similar  in  construction  to  that  on  board  the  Juliana,  a  ferry- 
boat plying  between  this  city  and  Hoboken.* 

It  would  be  altogether  unnecessary  to  go  into  a  detailed 
description  of  the  mode  of  adapting  and  applying  the  ma- 
chinery of  a  steam-engine  to  the  purpose  of  propelling  car- 
riages placed  on  railways.  It  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  I  feel 
the  fullest  confidence  in  being  able  to  convince  an  experienced 
and  skilful  engineer  of  the  entire  practicability  of  the  plan. 

I  shall  now  attempt  to  explain  the  many  and  important 
advantages  resulting  from  carrying  this  plan  into  effect: 

In  the  first  place,  as  to  expense.  On  the  most  exaggerated 
scale  of  calculation,  the  expense  of  such  a  railway  would  not 
exceed  that  of  an  ordinary  turnpike  road,  with  a  good  coat  of 
gravel  on  it. 

Second,  The  far  greater  part  of  the  work  can  be  performed 
by  common  laborers,  and  as  no  accuracy  of  leveling  would  bo 

*  The  steam  ferry-boat  Juliana  here  referred  to  was  built  by  Col.  Stevens,  in 
1811.  She  was  an  undecked,  open  boat — sixty-two  feet  in  length,  and  only  twelve 
feet  in  breadth,  drawing  from  two  and  one-half  to  three  feet  water.  The  engine  in 
her  was  of  the  model  pateute J  by  CoL  Stevens — having  a  cylinder  of  fourteen 
inches  diameter,  and  two  and  a  half  feet  stroke,  with  copper  boilers,  cylindrical,  witli 
flues.  The  steam  was  used  expansively — cut  off  in  the  main  valves — as  is  now 
done  in  the  most  approved  engines.  The  Juliana  attained  a  speed  of  seven  miles 
an  hour.  Mr.  Fulton  having  an  interest  in  the  Jersey  City  ferry,  objected  to  the 
right  of  CoL  Stevens  to  run  the  Juliana  as  a  ferry  boat  between  Hoboken  and 
New-York  City,  as  infringing  Lis  monopoly  from  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the 
Juliana  was  driven  off 

She  afterwards  plied  on  the  Connecticut  river  between  Middletown  and  Hart- 
ford—being the  first  boat  to  navigate  the  Sound,  although  undecked,  as  Col.  Stevens' 
boat  Phenix  was  the  first  in  1808,  to  navigate  the  ocean,  between  Sandy  Hook 
and  the  Delaware. 


DOCUMENTS.  19 

required,  it  may  be  commenced  and  carried  on  in  as  many 
different  places  as  may  be  found  expedient.  It  might,  there- 
fore, be  accomplished  with  ease  in  one  or  two  seasons. 

Third,  From  its  elevation  above  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
the  timber  of  which  the  railway  is  framed  will  be  little  sub- 
ject to  decay ;  and  from  this  elevation,  too,  the  travel  on  it 
can  never  be  interrupted,  as  it  will  be  raised  above  the  ordi- 
nary level  of  the  deepest  snows. 

Fourth,  These  railways,  from  the  nature  of  their  construc- 
tion, will  be  free  from  the  numerous  casualties  to  which 
canals  are  liable. 

Fifth,  The  expense  of  transportation  would  be  much  less 
than  on  a  canal  of  the  best  construction. 

To  prove  this,  a  summary  calculation  will  be  necessary. 

The  Commissioners  inform  us  (under  the  authority  of  Mr. 
Latrobe),  that  "by  the  aid  of  a  railway,  one  horse  would 
transport  eight  tons,  supposing  the  angle  of  ascent  not  to  ex- 
ceed one  degree." 

In  Nicholson's  Journal  is  an  account  of  one  horse  trans- 
porting for  several  miles  on  a  railway  the  enormous  weight  of 
fifty  tons. 

A  small  steam-engine,  then,  of  ten  inches  diameter,  worked 
with  steam,  the  elastic  power  of  which  was  fifty  pounds  to 
the  circular  inch,  would  possess  a  power  equal  to  five  thou- 
sand pounds  on  the  whole  area  of  the  piston,  moving  with  a 
velocity  of  three  feet  in  a  second.  This  exceeds  the  power  of 
twenty  horses;  but  one  horse,  as  above  stated,  can  transport 
on  a  railway  eight  tons,  and  twenty  horses  would,  at  the 
same  rate,  transport  one  hundred  and  sixty  tons. 

But  after  making  every  possible  reduction  for  exaggera- 
tion, we  may  fairly  state,  in  round  numbers,  that  a  steam 
engine,  with  a  cylinder  of  ten  inches  diameter,  worked  on 
the  above  principles,  would  be  capable  of  transporting  on  a 


20  DOCUMENTS. 

railway  one  hundred  tons  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  per  hour. 
It  must  be  recollected,  that  Mr.  Latrobe's  estimate,  above 
stated,  is  founded  on  an  ascent  of  one  degree.  Now,  this 
would  give  an  elevation  of  ninety-two  feet  and  upwards  for 
every  mile.  The  whole  difference  of  elevation  estimated  by 
the  Commissioners,  between  the  tide-water  at  Albany,  and 
the  surface  of  Lake  Erie,  is  five  hundred  and  twenty-five 
feet. 

To  gain  this  ascent,  therefore,  would  require  somewhat  less 
than  six  miles.  This  bears  so  small  a  proportion  to  the  whole 
distance,  that  it  would  be  but  in  a  trifling  degree  erroneous 
to  consider  the  whole  distance  as  one  level.  This  would  much 
more  than  compensate  for  an  increase  of  the  rate  of  velocity 
in  the  steam-carriage,  from  two  and  a  half  miles  to  four  miles 
an  hour,  especially  when  we  advert  to  the  well  authenticated 
experiment  above  stated,  viz.,  that  a  horse  is  capable  of  trans- 
porting more  than  fifty  tons  on  a  level  railway,  whereas  the 
above  is  "founded  on  an  estimate  of  ^  only  five  tons  to  each 
horse. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  estimate  the  expense  per  ton  of 
this  mode  of  transportation. 

The  steam-engine  of  the  above  mentioned  size  would  re- 
quire about  a  cord  of  wood  to  keep  it  constantly  going  for  the 
•whole  twenty-four  hours;  but  to  silence  all  cavil,  we  will 
fttate  the  consumption  of  wood  at  three  cords  a  day.  Wood, 
at  an  average  throughout  the  whole  distance,  may  be  pro- 
cured for  one  dollar  a  cord,  but  we  will  estimate  it  at  two 
dollars  a  cord. 

To  attend  the  fire,  and  perform  any  other  services  that 
may  be  required,  we  will  allow  four  men,  at  one  dollar  each 
per  day,  is  four  dollars ;  which,  added  to  the  cost  of  three 
cords  of  wood,  would  make  ten  dollars  a  day.  The  whole 
distance,  then,  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  miles,  from  Lake 


DOCUMENTS.  21 

Erie  to  Albany,  would  be  traveled  in  three  days.  Say  the 
back  load  would  average  only  one-third  of  a  full  freight,  there 
would  then  remain  five  days  at  ten  dollars  a  day,  amounting 
to  fifty  dollars,  for  the  expense  of  transporting  one  hundred 
tons  of  produce  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  miles, 
which  is  at  the  rate  of  fifty  cents  per  ton.  But  the  Commis- 
sioners have  estimated  the  expense  of  transportation  through 
the  contemplated  canal,  from  Lake  Erie  to  Hudson's  River, 
at  three  dollars  per  ton. 

In  the  above  calculation,  interest  on  the  capital  expended, 
wear  and  tear,,  and  repair  of  machinery,  carriages,  railways, 
&c.,  and  no  doubt  many  other  incidental  charges,  are  not  in- 
cluded. But  were  we  even  to  double  the  rate  of  transporta- 
tion, raising  it  from  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  per  ton,  still  it 
would  amount  to  only  one-third  of  what  the  Commissioners 
have  stated  as  above.  But  if  the  construction  of  railways 
would  require  only  about  one-fourth  of  the  capital  estimated 
for  a  canal,  and  the  transportation  thereon  could  be  afforded 
at  one  dollar  per  ton,  instead  of  three  dollars,  it  is  easy  to  see 
what  an  immense  revenue  the  State  might  derive  from  toll, 
and  still  permit  transportation  to  be  performed  for  much  less 
than  it  could  be  done  by  a  canal. 

But  here  I  expect  to  be  encountered  at  the  very  threshold 
— to  be  stigmatized  as  a  visionary  projector.  Have  not,  it 
will  be  said,  steam-engines  and  railways  been  long  in  use  in 
England  ?  And  should  it  be  practicable  to  apply  them  to  such 
immense  advantage  in  the  improvement  of  transportation, 
would  it  not  have  been  done  in  that  country  long  ago  ?  To 
this  argumenlum  ad  hominem,  thanks  to  the  enterprise  and 
active  genius  of  our  citizens,  we  are  now  furnished  with  ready 
and  conclusive  answers.  Mr.  Latrobe,  in  a  memoir  published 
in  the  third  volume  of  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Phi- 
losophical Society,  animadverting  on  the  projects  "  for  pro- 


22  DOCUMENTS. 

pelling  boats  by  steam-engines,"  uses  these  remarkable  ex- 
pressions: "A  sort  of  mania  began  to  prevail,  which  indeed 
has  not  yet  entirely  subsided."  It  is  surely  unnecessary  to 
say,  that  in  despite  of  the  formidable  objections  (no  less  than 
six)  he  has  urged,  "  from  which,"  as  he  tells  us,  "  no  parti- 
cular mode  of  application  can  be  free,"  in  despite  of  these 
anathemas,  the  project,  as  we  all  with  pleasure  can  testify, 
has  completely  succeeded.  Another  gentleman,  in  the  Ame- 
rican Medical  and  Philosophical  Register  for  April  1811,  has 
given  a  demonstration  to  prove,  that  a  small  obstacle  would 
be  sufficient  to  stop  a  carriage  impelled  by  a  steam-engine. 
That  on  roads  perfectly  hard  and  smooth  it  could  not  ascend 
an  inclined  plane  of  seven  or  eight  degrees  ;  and  concludes  by 
saying,  that  "  in  whatever  point  of  view  we  place  this  sub- 
ject, we  shall  be  more  and  more  convinced  of  its  futility." 
He,  however,  in  another  place  expresses  himself  as  follows  : 
"  If  roads  were  perfectly  hard,  smooth  and  level,  such  an  en- 
gine would  probably  have  the  advantage  over  common  car- 
riages, because  a  small  power  continually  exerted  would  give 
a  degree  of  velocity  that  could  not  be  supported  by  horses." 
This  admission  is  amply  sufficient  to  defend  the  plan  now 
proposed  against  the  force  of  his  demonstration,  and  renders  it 
unnecessary  to  go  into  any  investigation  to  point  out  its  de- 
fects. If,  then,  notwithstanding  the  host  of  objections  "from 
which  no  particular  plan  can  be  free,"  the  steam-engine  has 
been  successfully  applied  to  propelling  boats,  we  surely  need 
not  despair  of  applying  it  with  success  also  to  propelling  car- 
riages. But  surely  the  mere  novelty  and  magnitude  of  the 
proposed  improvement  ought  not  to  startle  us.  We  are  too 
apt  to  look  up  with  reverential  awe  to  what  has  usually  been 
called  the  mother  country,  for  every  improvement  in  the  arts, 
without  considering  how  recent  has  been  the  introduction  and 
establishment  of  these  arts  in  that  very  country. 


DOCUMENTS.  23 

It  is  about  a  century  ago  that  the  first  crude  attempts  to 
apply  the  power  of  steam  to  useful  purposes  were  made ;  and 
it  is,  as  it  were,  but  yesterday  that  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater 
first  introduced  canals,  which  have  since  been  so  astonishingly 
multiplied  in  that  country.  And  as  to  railways,  they  are  of 
a  much  more  recent  date,  and  are  at  present  very  limited  in 
their  use  and  application.  A  project,  therefore,  promising 
such  vast  improvement  in  the  transportation  of  commodities 
to  and  from  the  interior  of  our  country,  if  not  stamped  with 
absurdity  on  the  very  face  of  it,  surely  merits  the  most  serious 
consideration ;  and  on  this  occasion  I  have  every  reason  to 
felicitate  myself  on  my  good  fortune. 

When  I  reflect  on  the  high  standing  in  society,  and  en- 
lightened patriotism  of  the  gentlemen  who  are,  in  the  first 
instance,  to  pass  judgment  on  the  plan  I  have  proposed,  I  feel 
perfectly  satisfied  that  its  real  merits,  whatever  they  may  be, 
will  be  duly  appreciated. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  although  the  elevation  of  the 
railways  may  secure  them,  in  a  great  measure,  from  decay, 
yet  the  constant  transit  of  the  wheels  over  them  will  very 
soon  wear  them  out,  in  like  manner  as  we  see  happens  to  the 
plank  on  bridges.  But  the  cases  are  by  no  means  similar. 
As  the  plank  on  bridges  are  laid  crossways,  the  warping  of 
the  plank,  and  the  enlargement  of  the  cracks  or  seams  be- 
tween each,  causes  inequalities  in  the  surface  ;  this  produces 
more  or  less  jolting  in  the  motion  of  the  wheels  of  carriages 
passing  over.  But  what  tends  still  more  to  wear  away  the 
plank,  are  the  heads  of  the  nails  in  the  tire  of  the  wheels,  and 
also  the  nails  and  calks  in  the  horse-shoes  ;  whereas  the  sur- 
faces of  both  the  railways,  and  the  rims  of  the  carriage-wheels, 
are  made,  in  the  first  instance,  perfectly  smooth,  and  free 
from  all  inequalities  of  surface  ;  and  as  the  rims  of  the  wheels 
will  always  continue  so,  the  railways  can  never  be  affected 


24  DOCUMENTS. 

by  apything  except  mere  pressure.  I  should  presume,  there- 
fore, that  they  will  be  but  little  subject  to  wear.  But  wher- 
ever this  wear  takes  place,  they  can  be  renewed  again  at  a 
trifling  expense.  But  should,  contrary  to  expectation,  expe- 
rience prove  these  railways  to  be  so  subject  to  wear,  as  that 
the  frequency  of  their  renewal  becomes  inconvenient  and  ex- 
pensive, recourse  could  be  had  at  any  time  to  cast  or  plated 
iron  railways,  which,  without  any  further  trouble  and  ex- 
pense, could  be  fastened  on  the  top  of  the  wooden  railways. 

I  would  beg  leave  to  suggest,  that  an  experiment,  by 
which  the  real  value  of  the  plan  now  proposed  might  be  com- 
pletely and  satisfactorily  ascertained,  could  be  made  for  a  few 
thousand  dollars. 

As  the  power  of  the  engine  is  expended  principally  in 
overcoming  friction,  which  is  increased  in  but  a  small  degree 
by  an  increase  of  velocity,  and  may  be  removed  almost  en- 
tirely by  using  friction  wheels,  a  carriage  may  be  made,  by  a 
small  increase  of  power,  to  acquire  a  velocity  far  greater  than 
could  be  given  by  the  fleetest  horses ;  and  as,  too,  the  rail- 
ways must  be  incomparably  better  than  the  best  turnpike 
road  could  possibly  be  made,  I  am  by  no  means  prepared  to 
say  what  limits  may  be  set  to  the  rapidity  with  which  a  car- 
riage may  be  driven  on  these  ways. 

JOHN  STEVENS. 
New-York,  Feb.  24,  1812. 


No.  4. 


Extract  of  a  Letter  from  Robert  R.  Livingston,  Esq. 

ALBANY,  March  11  th,  181,2. 

Dear  Sir — I  did  not  till  yesterday  receive  yours  of  the  25th 
of  February  ;  where  it  has  loitered  on  the  road  I  am  at  a  loss 
to  say.  I  had  before  read  your  very  ingenious  propositions  as 


DOCUMENTS.  25 

to  the  railway  communication.  I  fear,  however,  on  mature 
reflection,  that  they  will  be  liable  to  serious  objections,  and 
ultimately  more  expensive  than  a  canal.  They  must  be 
double,  so  as  to  prevent  the  danger  of  two  such  heavy  bodies 
meeting.  The  walls  on  which  they  are  placed  must  at  least 
be  four  feet  below  the  surface,  and  three  above,  and  must  be 
clamped  with  iron,  and  even  then  would  hardly  sustain  so 
heavy  a  weight  as  you  propose  moving  at  the  rate  of  four 
miles  an  hour  on  wheels.  As  to  wood,  it  would  not  last  a 
week  :  they  must  be  covered  with  iron,  and  that,  too,  very 
thick  and  strong.  The  means  of  stopping  these  heavy  car- 
riages without  a  great  shock,  and  of  preventing  them  from 
running  upon  each  other  (for  there  would  be  many  on  the 
road  at  once),  would  be  very  difficult.  In  case  of  accidental 
stops,  or  the  necessary  stops  to  take  wood  and  water,  &c. 
many  accidents  would  happen.  The  carriage  of  condensing 
water  would  be  very  troublesome.  Upon  the  whole,  I  fear 
the  expense  would  be  much  greater  than  that  of  canals,  with- 
out being  so  convenient. 


No.  5. 

Answer  to  Robert  -ff.  LivingstorHs  Objections. 

NEW- YORK,  March  16,  1812. 

Dear  Sir — Yours  of  the  llth  inst.  I  have  just  now  received, 
and  as  you  probably  will  not  remain  in  Albany  until  this  let- 
ter reaches  that  place,  I  have  directed  it  to  Mr.  Gr.  Morris, 
that  the  Commissioners  may  be  duly  apprized  of  the  answers 
I  shall  give  to  your  objections  against  the  proposed  railways. 
"  I  fear,"  you  say,  "  the  expense  would  be  much  greater 
than  that  of  canals."  I  have  in  my  memoir  stated  the  ex- 
pense of  the  railways  at  one-fourth  of  that  of  a  canal ;  and,  for 
the  reasons  I  shall  now  assign,  I  am  now  convinced  the  differ- 


26  DOCUMENTS. 

ence  of  expense  between  them  will  be  much  greater,  if  wood 
only  is  used. 

The  Commissioners  have  estimated  the  expense  of  ex- 
cavating a  canal  fifteen  yards  wide,  and  three  feet  deep,  "  at 
$1,500,000,  drawn  through  a  favorable  soil  lying  convenient- 
ly, without  the  opposition  of  rocks  or  other  impediments. 
Many  of  these,  however,  must  be  expected,  and  perhaps 
double  that  sum." 

Thus,  then,  the  cost  of  the  canal  merely  is  estimated  by 
the  Commissioners  at  $3,000,000.  "  If  the  locks  be  put  at 
$1,500,000,  it  is  the  lowest  rate  that  can  prudently  be  sup- 
posed. It  would,  indeed,  be  safer  to  set  them  at  two  mil- 
lions." 

Not  one  shilling  of  this  aggregate  sum  of  five  millions 
would  be  required  in  the  erection  of  railways.  "  There  will 
still  remain  for  aqueducts,  embankments  and  mounds  a  con- 
siderable expenditure,"  and  "  it  is  believed  that  one  million 
of  dollars  would  provide  for  everything  of  this  sort."  Nearly 
one-half  of  this  sum  would  be  required  in  constructing  a 
mound  over  the  Cayuga  Lake,  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet 
high,  sixty  feet  wide  at  top,  with  a  base  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety  feet  at  bottom,  whereas  the  railways  would  not  require 
a  mound  at  this  place  of  one-tenth  part  of  this  magnitude, 
and  so  in  proportion  throughout  the  whole  distance.  "We  will, 
however,  estimate  the  necessary  embankments,  mounds,  &o. 
(aqueducts  none  would  be  wanted)  at  half  a  million  of  dollars. 
There  now  remains,  then,  the  cost  of  the  railways  to  be  cal- 
culated. I  shall,  in  the  first  instance,  suppose  the  whole  to 
be  constructed  of  wood.  Calculating  timber  at  New- York 
price  of  twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  cubic  foot,  four  rails, 
then,  of  six  inches  wide,  by  twelve  inches  deep,  would  make 
two  cubic  feet,  or  twenty-five  cents  a  foot  running  measure, 
equal  to  $1320  per  mile.  The  posts  or  pillars,  say  eight  feet 


DOCUMENTS.  27 

long,  at  twenty-five  cents  a  piece,  twelve  feet  apart,  four  rows 
would  be  one  dollar  for  every  twelve  feet,  or  $440  per  mile. 
Digging  holes,  setting  posts,  braces,  and  carpenter  work,  $740. 
Total  $2500  per  mile,  or  $750,000  for  the  whole  distance  of 
three  hundred  miles.  This  sum  of  $750,000  added  to 
$500,000,  estimated  for  embankments,  mounds,  &c.  makes 
an  aggregate  sum  of  $1,250,000  for  the  whole  expense  of  the 
railways.  And  should  they  even  require  to  be  totally  renewed 
once  in  every  ten  years,  still  a  capital  of  $1,500,000,  or  double 
the  sum  of  $750,000,  would  be  more  than  adequate  to  the 
purpose. 

For  the  reasons  already  assigned  in  the  memoir,  these 
wooden  ways  must  be  much  more  durable  than  the  plank  on 
a  bridge  ;  and  I  must  confess  I  do  not  perceive  on  what 
grounds  you  found  your  assertion,  when  you  say  that  they 
would  not  last  a  week. 

But  were  we  to  admit  the  absolute  necessity,  in  the  first 
instance,  of  shoeing  these  railways  with  iron,  the  whole  ex- 
pense of  them  would  fall  far  short  of  the  cost  of  a  canal.  For 
this  purpose  I  should  prefer  plate  iron  of  about  an  eighth  of 
an  inch  thick.  Such  plates,  I  presume,  might  be  procured 
for  twelve  and  a  half  cents  per  pound,  at  which  rate  the 
shoeing  four  rails  would  cost  somewhat  less  than  $4000  per 
mile,  or  $1,200,000  for  the  whole  distance.  Should,  however, 
cast  iron  be  preferred,  plates  of  an  inch  thick  would  cost  for 
the  whole  distance  about  $3,000,000. 

These  plates,  provided  they  remained  unaffected  by  frost, 
would  last  an  age,  and,  by  protecting  the  wooden  ways  from 
the  effects  of  the  weather,  will  render  them  also  very  durable. 

One  manifest  advantage  would,  however,  attend  the  adop- 
tion of  these  railways  :  we  would  be  able  to  count  the  cost  of 
the  undertaking  with  sufficient  accuracy  before  the  business 
was  commenced,  whereas  the  cost  of  a  canal  is,  in  a  great 


28  DOCUMENTS. 

measure,  conjectural,  and  may,  at  all  events,  be  estimated  at 
more  than  double  the  sum  calculated  upon  by  the  Commis- 
sioners. 

But,  after  all,  I  must  beg  leave  to  refer  once  more  to  the 
very  judicious  observations  of  the  Commissioners  on  the  sub- 
ject of  expense.  "  No  supposable  expense  can  bear  an  undue 
proportion  to  the  value  of  the  work.  Thus,  were  it  (by  giv- 
ing a  loose  to  fancy)  extended  to  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  even 
that  enormous  sum  does  not  exceed  half  the  value  of  what,  in 
all  human  probability,  and  at  no  distant  period,  will  annually 
be  carried  along  the  canal.  The  more  proper  question,  per- 
haps, is,  in  what  time  can  it  be  effected  ?" 

Were  I  not  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  many  superior 
advantages  of  the  proposed  railways  over  canals,  the  mere 
saving  of  expense  would  not  alone  induce  me  to  press  their 
adoption.  But  were  railways  to  cost  fifty  millions  of  dollars, 
whil.st  a  canal  could  be  completed  for  five,  yet,  if  there  is  any 
truth  in  my  calculations,  still  the  railways  would  ultimately 
prove  the  cheapest.  Two-thirds  of  the  expense  of  transporta- 
tion would  be  saved,  by  substituting  railways  in  the  place  of 
a  canal.  The  period  is  not  far  distant,  then,  when  the  an- 
nual amount  of  this  saving  would  be  equal  to  legal  interest 
on  a  capital  of  fifty  millions,  even  should  the  calculation  be 
founded  on  the  supposition,  that  the  increase  of  population  in 
the  western  country  should  in  future  be  in  no  greater  ratio 
than  what  it  has  been  for  the  last  ten  years.  But  the  in- 
crease of  population  will  most  assuredly  be  in  a  much  greater 
ratio,  more,  especially  should  these  railways  be  speedily  com- 
pleted. 

When  you  say  that  a  thick  stone  wall,  "  clamped  with 
ro  n,  could  hardly  sustain  so  heavy  a  weight,  moving  at  the 
rate  of  four  miles  an  hour  on  wheels,"  you  appear  to  have 
formed  an  erroneous  idea  of  the  distribution  of  the  weight. 


DOCUMENTS.  23 

One  hundred  tons  placed  on  four  wheels  would  indeed  be  a 
very  "  heavy  weight,"  but  it  is  not  contemplated  to  put  more 
than  one  ton  on  four  wheels,  or  certainly  not  more  than  two 
tons,  which  would  be  only  five  hundred,  or,  at  most,  one 
thousand  pounds  on  each  wheel.  So  moderate  a  weight  could 
surely  have  little  or  no  tendency  to  crush  down  the  ways, 
and  the  quicker  the  passage"  of  the  wheels  over,  then  the  less 
would  be  this  tendency. 

But  I  am  surprised  that  you  should  consider  canals  as 
being  more  convenient  than  the  proposed  railways.  I  must 
own  that  I  am  not  able  to  perceive  that  canals,  in  this  respect, 
have  in  any  one  particular  a  preference  over  them ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  they  have  in  many  respects  a  preference  over 
canals. 

In  the  first  place,  as  there  are  no  locks  to  pass  through, 
and  separate  ways  for  the  up  and  down  transit,  there  can 
never  be  any  interruptions  or  detentions.  And  everyone,  whe- 
ther he  is  induced  to  travel  either  by  business  or  pleasure, 
can  calculate  with  certainty  and  precision  when  he  will  ar- 
rive at  the  end  of  his  journey ;  I  may,  indeed  say,  with  al- 
most absolute  certainty  ;  for  it  must  be  recollected,  that  the 
simplicity  and  equable  motion  of  the  machinery,  and  the  per- 
fect uniformity  of  the  work  to  be  performed,  precludes  almost 
entirely  the  possibility  of  derangement.  Wind  and  tide, 
rough  and  smooth  water,  light  or  darkness,  would  have  no 
influence  whatever  over  steam-carriages  moving  on  these 
ways. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  then,  that  these  circumstances  must 
render  the  travel  on  these  railways  very  convenient.  But  it 
is  not  the  certainty  alone,  but  the  celerity  and  dispatch  of 
this  mode  of  traveling,  which  gives  it  so  decided  a  preference 
to  navigating  on  a  canal,  and,  indeed,  to  every  other  mode  of 
conveyance,  The  farmer  who  carries  his  produce  to  market, 


30  DOCUMENTS. 

will,  by  means  of  this  mode  of  conveyance,  save  three  days 
out  of  four.  And  by  means  of  it,  also,  the  traveler  will  in 
one  day  perform  more  than  a  week's  journey  on  a  canal. 

But  "  many  accidents  would  happen  by  carriages  running 
against  each  other,  in  cases  of  accidental  or  necessary  stops." 
There  are  easy  and  obvious  modes  of  effectually  guarding 
against  all  accidents  of  this  sort.  In  the  first  place,  deposits 
of  wood  and  water  must  be  formed  every  ten  or  twelve  miles  ; 
and  each. suit  of  carriages  must  make  no  regular  halt,  except 
at  those  places.  As  to  accidental  stops,  these,  for  the  reasons 
assigned  above,  will  very  rarely  or  never  happen.  The  stop- 
ping places  must,  of  course,  be  always  on  level  ground.  And 
it  must  be  an  invariable  and  established  rule,  that  all  the 
carriages  which  stop  at  one  time  and  place  be  firmly  con- 
nected to  each  other. 

"Whilst  these  regulations  are  strictly  observed,  no  accidents 
of  this  sort  can  ever  happen.  The  conductor  of  each  suit  of 
carriages  is  precisely  acquainted  with  the  position  of  every 
stopping  place,  and  governs  himself  accordingly.  He  takes 
care  to  bring  too  in  time,  so  as  not  to  run  against  other  car- 
riages ;  and  should  it  be  necessary  (although  I  am  inclined 
to  think  it  will  not),  means  might  readily  be  taken  to  bring 
too  more  expeditiously.  For  the  accommodation  of  carriages 
for  carrying  passengers,  it  will  be  very  practicable  and  easy 
to  contrive,  at  each  of  these  stopping  places,  a  mode  of  turn- 
ing out  on  the  adjoining  ways,  so  as  to  admit  of  their  passing 
the  carriages  for  the  transport  of  heavy  articles. 

"  But  the  means  of  stopping  these  heavy  carriages,  with- 
out a  great  shock,  would  be  very  difficult."  It  is  very  sur- 
prising that  you  should  apprehend  the  least  difficulty  about  a 
thing  so  easy  to  effect.  On  stopping  the  engine,  the  friction 
of  the  wheels,  turning  on  their  axis,  will  gradually  retard  the 
motion  of  the  whole  suit  of  carriages  (the  friction  operating 


DOCUMENTS.  31 

uniformly  at  the  axis  of  each  wheel),  till  at  length  they  will 
all,  almost  imperceptibly,  become  stationary,  without  the  pos- 
sibility of  producing  anything  like  a  shock. 

"  The  carriage  of  condensing  water  would  be  very 
troublesome."  I  am  persuaded  you  would  never  have  ad- 
vanced this  objection,  had  you  adverted  to  the  circumstance 
of  my  stating  expressly  in  the  memoir,  that  the  engine  was 
to  be  wrought  by  the  elasticity  of  the  steam  merely. 

I  have  now  fully,  and,  as  I  conceive,  satisfactorily  an- 
swered every  objection  you  have  urged,  and,  of  course,  they 
have  only  served  to  establish  more  firmly  in  my  mind  the 
very  favorable  sentiments  I  entertain  respecting  the  practical 
utility  of  the  proposed  railways. — Yours,  &c. 

JOHN  STEVENS. 

Addressed  to  Gouverneur  Morris,  Esq.,  Chairman  to  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Inland  Navigation. 


NO.  6. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  letter  addressed  to  Gouverneur  Morris,  Esq.,  Chairman 
to  the  Commissioners  for  the  improvement  of  Inland  Navigation. 

NEW-YORK,  March  11,  1812. 

Sir — I  lately  enclosed,  in  a  letter  directed  to  De  Witt 
Clinton,  Esq.,  a  memoir  addressed  to  the  Commissioners, 
which  no  doubt,  he  has  communicated  to  the  Board.  In  this 
memoir  I  have  endeavored  to  prove,  and  I  hope  not  unsat- 
isfactorily, the  great  superiority  of  the  proposed  railways, 
to  canals.  The  only  question  then  is,  whether  steam  engines 
can,  without  much  difficulty  be  applied  to  the  purpose  of  pro- 
pelling carriages.  To  the  expression  of  an  opinion  on  this 
matter,  I  certainly  have  some  pretensions  to  competency. 
After  having  then  maturely  considered  the  subject,  I  am 
firmly  convinced  that  steam  engines  can  be  applied  to  pro- 
pelling carriages  on  these  rail-ways,  with  much  more  facility 


gg  DOCUMENTS. 

than  they  are  now  made  use  of  for  propelling  boats.  The 
machinery  of  a  steam  engine  requisite  for  propelling  carriages 
may  be  simplified  greatly.  Cog-wheels,  air-pumps,  condens- 
ing apparatus,  plug  frame,  and  fly-wheels  can  all  be  dispensed 
with.  Of  course  then,  the  liability  of  the  machinery  to  de- 
rangement will  be  proportionably  diminished.  But  to  place 
this  matter  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubt,  let  it  be  subjected 
to  the  infallible  test  of  actual  experiment.  As  has  already 
been  stated  in  my  letter  to  Mr.  Clinton,  "an  experiment  suf- 
ficientfy  extensive  to  ascertain  unquestionably  the  real  merits 
or  demerits  of  this  proposed  plan  could  be  tried  at  the  expense 
of  two  or  three  thousand  dollars."  It  remains  then  for  the 
Commissioners  to  determine  whether  the  advantages  which 
this  plan  promises,  afford  sufficient  inducements  to  authorize 
them  to  recommend  an  appropriation  of  a  moderate  sum,  to 
be  applied  to  the  making  the  necessary  experiments.  I  now 
pledge  myself  that  the  expense  of  these  experiments  shall  not 
exceed  $3,000. 

I  am  aware  how  unnecessary  it  would  be  to  attempt  to 
point  out  to  you  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  conse- 
quences which  must  necessarily  result  from  these  railways 
and  steam  carriages  coming  into  general  use.  The  commu- 
nications between  the  extremes  of  this  extensive  empire 
would  be  rendered  beyond  all  conception  rapid,  and,  at  all 
seasons,  and  in  all  weathers,  invariably  certain.  What  in- 
fluence these  circumstances  would  have  on  the  moral,  politi- 
cal, and  intellectual  attainments  of  the  citizens  of  these 
States,  cannot  now  be  duly  appreciated  ;  but  unquestionably 
their  permanent  prosperity  and  happiness,  as  well  as  tempo- 
rary ease  and  comfort,  would  be  greatly  promoted. 

Should  any  objections  occur,  either  to  yourself,  or  any  of 
the  rest  of  the  members  of  your  Board,  against  the  plan  I  have 
submitted  to  their  consideration,  you  will  confer  a  particular 


DOCUMENTS.  33 

favor  by  stating  them  to  me.  Pardon  the  trouble  which  my 
solicitude  on  this  subject  occasions.  I  must  confess,  that 
having  been  somewhat  instrumental  in  the  introduction  of 
the  art  of  propelling  boats  by  means  of  steam,  I  feel  ambi- 
tious of  the  honor  of  introducing  the  application  of  the  same 
agent  to  propelling  carriages.  And  as  steam-boats  have  been 
first  brought  into  practical  use  on  the  waters  of  the  Hudson, 
so  I  hope  and  trust  that  it  will  not  be  long  before  the  abun- 
dant products  of  our  interior  will  be  conveyed  to  the  banks  of 
this  noble  river  by  means  of  steam-carriages. 
I  am,  Sir, 

Yours,  &c., 

JOHN  STEVENS. 


NO.  7. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  a  Letter  from  Mr.  G.  Morris. 

ALBANY,  March  16,  1812. 

Sir — I  am  directed  by  the  Board  of  Commissioners  to 
transmit  the  enclosed  copy  of  a  report  made  by  the  Commit- 
tee to  which  your  letter  was  referred.  I  avail  myself  of  the 
opportunity  to  present  the  assurances  of  that  respect  with 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS. 


NO.  8. 

Copy  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee. 

The  Committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  Communication 
from  John  Stevens,  Esq.,  recommending  the  construction 
of  a  Wooden  Railway, 

REPORT, 

That  they  have  considered   the  said  communication,  with 


y4  DOCUMENTS. 

the  attention  due  to  a  gentleman  whose  scientific  researches 
and  knowledge  of  mechanical  powers  entitle  his  opinions  to 
great  respect,  and  are  sorry  not  to  concur  in  them. 

Mr.  Stevens  proposes  a  railway  on  which  a  steam  engine 
is  to  propel,  by  a  force  equal  to  the  competent  number  of 
horses,  one  hundred  tons  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour. 

As  horses  move  on  the  earth,  when  drawing  a  weight,  it  is 
believed  that  an  equal  power  must,  to  produce  the  same  effect, 
have  sufficient  hold  on  the  earth  ;  and  it  is  doubted  whether 
an  engine  in  a  wagon  can  work  it  forward  with  as  much  ad- 
vantage as  horses  on  a  road. 

If  the  engine  turn  the  wheels,  and  propel  the  weight  by 
their  friction  on  the  railways,  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
the  effect  will  equal  expectation. 

The  rims  of  the  wheels  (however  acurate),  will,  it  is  appre- 
hended, impede  (by  their  friction)  the  progressive  motion. 
Such  at  least  would  be  the  case  were  the  wagon  drawn  by 


Friction  must  be  increased,  if  the  logs  of  the  railway 
should  warp.  And  it  may  be  doubted  whether  workmen  could 
be  found  of  sufficient  skill  (even  could  they  have  a  choice  of 
seasoned  timber)  to  prevent  the  warping  of  logs  by  change  of 
weather  from  hot  to  cold  and  from  wet  to  dry. 

If  the  rims  and  railway  should  not  fit  exactly,  there 
might  result  such  variance  of  direction,  as  would  bring  the 
rims  to  cut  the  rails.  But  if  the  wheels  fit  exactly  when  the 
logs  are  green  or  wet,  they  can  do  so  no  longer  when  those 
logs  become  seasoned  and  dry.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  rail- 
way should  be  constructed  of  dry  or  seasoned  stuff,  wheels 
when  well  fitted  to  it  would,  when  rain  or  damp  air  had 
swollen  the  rails,  be  squeezed  along  with  difficulty. 

Supposing,  nevertheless,  that  non-elastic,  incompressible 
railways  were  so  constructed  as  not  to  warp,  the  slightest 


DOCUMENTS.  35 

failure  of  foundation  on  either  side  would  give  a  bias  which 
(to  use  a  workman's  phrase),  throwing  it  out  of  truth,  might 
occasion  its  destruction  by  lateral  pressure. 

But  the  result  just  mentioned  would  be  produced  unless 
foundations  are  laid  below  the  power  of  frost,  and  of  materials 
sufficiently  solid  to  bear  the  great  incumbent  pressure  pro- 
posed in  the  shock  of  rapid  motion. 

And  thus  we  are  definitely  led  to  ask  whether  a  railway 
can  be  constructed  of  sufficient  strength.  It  is  proposed  that 
one  hundred  tons  be  put  in  motion  on  it,  at  the  rate  of  four 
miles  per  hour,  which  is  nearly  two  yards  in  a  second.  If 
this  motion  were  produced  by  force  fixed  to  the  earth  it  must 
not  only  be  equal  to  the  weight  multiplied  into  the  velocity, 
but  as  much  greater  as  would  be  needful  to  overcome  the 
resistance  of  friction.  No  formula  has  yet  been  discovered  by 
which  to  calculate  the  proportion  between  power,  friction  and 
effect,  but  experience  has  demonstrated,  that  friction  is 
always  a  deduction  from  power.  When  that  operates  (as  is 
supposed  to  be  intended  on  the  present  occasion)  by  friction 
at  the  circumference  of  wheels,  overcoming  that  which  is  at 
their  axis  (and  propelling  so  great  a  weight)  the  deduction 
must  be  greater  than  in  common  cases.  Put  it  however,  for 
the  present  at  nothing,  and  for  the  weight  of  wagon,  steam 
engine,  and  fuel  allow  nothing  :  still  we  shall  have  force  100, 
and  weight  100  (together  200,)  working  with  a  velocity  of 
four  miles  per  hour  by  friction  on  a  railway.  It  does  not  seem 
probable  that  a  way  could  be  made  of  sufficient  strength. 

But,  if  it  can.  the  Committee  conceive  that  it  must  be 
composed  of  materials  much  more  solid  and  durable  than 
wood.  Moreover,  as  it  is  self-evident  that  the  same  way  will 
not  serve  for  carriages  going  and  returning,  the  expense  which 
would  (it  is  conceived)  for  a  single  way  exceed  that  of  a 


gg  DOCUMENTS. 

Canal  must  be  doubled,  and  would  therefore  render  the  con- 
struction unadvisable,  were  it  sanctioned  by  experience." 
A  true  copy  from  the  minutes. 

JOHN  L.  MORTON, 
Secretary  to  1he  Canal  Commissioners. 


NO.  9. 

Answer  to  the  Report  of  the  Committee. 

The  objections  urged  against  the  proposed  railways  in  the 
above  report  of  the  Committee,  appear  to  me  so  void  of  real 
foundation,  that  I  am  constrained  to  repeat  again  the  senti- 
ment I  have  already  expressed  in  my  answer  to  the  objections 
brought  forward  by  Mr.  Livingston.  ,  * 

These  objections  "  have  only  served  to  establish  more  firmly 
in  my  mind  the  very  favorable  sentiments  I  entertain  respect- 
ing the  practical  utility  of  the  proposed  railways." 

The  respect,  however,  due  to  the  gentlemen  who  constitu- 
ted this  Committee,  prompts  me  to  give  the  following  answer. 

It  is  an  established  principle,  resulting  from  the  laws  of 
motion,  that  all  bodies  are  indifferent  to  a  state  of  motion  or 
rest.  When,  therefore,  by  any  means,  a  determinate  velocity 
is  given  to  a  body,  that  body' would  continue  to  move  adinfin- 
itum,  with  the  velocity  originally  impressed  upon  it,  were  it 
not  resisted  by  some  other  force  or  power.  Thus,  were  we  to 
suppose  a  sphere  or  cylinder,  perfectly  hard  and  smooth,  to 
be  set  in  motion  upon  a  horizontal  plain,  also  perfectly  smooth 
and  hard,  it  would  revolve  round  the  earth  forever,  were  it  not 
impeded  by  the  resistance  of  the  atmosphere.  Gravity,  in  this 
case,  would  have  no  tendency  either  to  retard  or  accelerate 
its  motion,  as  the  action  of  gravity  would  always  be  exerted 
in  a  direction  perpendicular  to  the^  line  of  motion.  But  a 
railway  cannot,  in  practice,  be  constructed  of  materials  per- 
fectly hard  and  smooth  ;  and,  although  friction  rollers  in  the 


DOCUMENTS.  37 

hubs  of  the  wheels  would  take  off  from  the  axis  a  large  share 
of  friction,  yet  still  there  would  remain  a  considerable  quan- 
tity to  be  overcome  :  what  this  would  amount  to  in  practice, 
cannot  theoretically  be  precisely  ascertained.  However,  the 
fact  of  one  horse  drawing  on  a  railway  upwards  of  fifty  tons 
for  several  miles,  furnishes  sufficient  data  to  calculate  upon. 
We  may  certainly,  with  great  safety,  estimate  a  steam  engine 
of  a  two  horse  power  adequate  to  the  purpose  of  giving  mo- 
tion to  one  hundred  tons  weight,  on  a  horizontal  railway. 
But  it  is  proposed  to  give  to  this  railway,  where  necessary, 
an  ascent  of  one  degree.  On  these  occasions,  then,  there  will 
be  required  a  power  equal  to  somewhat  more  than  one  six- 
tieth part  of  the  whole  weight  of  one  hundred  tons  ;  we  will 
call  it  three  thousand  five  hundred  pounds.  This  added  to 
the  two  horse  power,  necessary  to  overcome  friction,  &c.,  on 
a  horizontal  plain,  would  make  a  sum  total  of  four  thousand 
pounds.  But  I  have  stated  already  the  power  of  the  steam 
engine  at  five  thousand  pounds.  But  Mr.  Latrobe  has  esti- 
mated that  "  by-the  aid  of  a  railway,  one  horse  would  trans- 
port eight  tons,  supposing  the  angle  of  ascent  not  to  exceed 
one  degree."  One  hundred  tons,  then,  would  require  twelve 
and  a  half  horses,  allowing  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  for 
each  horse  :  the  power  of  twelve  and  a  half  horses  would 
equal  only  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
pounds,  instead  of  four  thousand,  as  above  estimated. 

But  when  it  is  considered  that  more  than  nineteen  twen- 
tieths of  the  whole  distance  will  be  nearly  on  a  horizontal 
level,  which  would  require  no  more  than  a  two  or  three 
horse  power,  instead  of  twenty,  at  which  the  engine  is  esti- 
mated, we  surely  need  not  apprehend  a  deficiency  of  power. 
But  "  as  horses  move  on  the  earth  when  drawing  a  weight,  it 
is  believed  that  an  equal  power  must,  to  produce  the  same 
effect,  have  sufficient  hold  on  the  earth :  and  it  is  doubted 


38  DOCUMENTS. 

whether  an  engine  in  a  wagon  can  work  it  forward  with  as 
much  advantage  as  horses  on  a  road." 

I  must  confess  I  cannot  see  the  force  of  this  objection  ;  and 
fearful  that  it  might  contain  something  which  had  escaped 
my  attention,  I  submitted  it  to  a  number  of  scientific  gentle- 
men, who  unanimously  concur  with  me,  that,  provided  the 
wheels  do  not  slip  on  the  ways,  the  whole  power  of  the  en- 
gine is  exerted  to  the  best  advantage  in  propelling  the  car- 
riage forward.  There  will,  no  doubt,  in  proportion  as  the 
shackle  pin  approaches  to,  or  recedes  from,  the  periphery  of 
the  wheel,  be  a  difference  in  the  relative  velocity  of  the  car- 
riage and  the  piston ;  whereas,  the  horse  and  .the  carriage 
always  move  forward  with  the  same  velocity. 

"  If  the  engine  turn  the  wheels,  and  propel  the  weight  by 
their  friction  on  the  railway,  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
the  effect  will  equal  expectation." 

No  friction  (except  at  the  hubs)  results  from  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  wheels  on  the  railways.  Resistance  will,  how- 
ever, occur,  in  proportion  to  the  frequency  and  magnitude  of 
the  elevations  and  depressions  of  the  railways,  and  their  de- 
viations from  a  horizontal  plain. 

"  The  rims  of  the  wheels,  however  accurate,  will,  it  is  ap- 
prehended, impede  by  their  friction  the  progressive  motion. 
Such  at  least  would  be  the  case,  were  the  wagon  drawn  by 
horses." 

It  has  just  now  been  stated,  that  no  friction  whatever  takes 
place  at  the  rims  of  the  wheels  of  a  carriage  on  a  railway. 
This  would  invariably  be  the  case  whether  the  carriage  were 
propelled  by  horses  or  by  a  steam  engine. 

But  the  timber  of  these  railways  would  be  liable  to  warp  : 
I  would  propose  to  construct  the  ways  of  white  pine,  twelve 
inches  deep  and  six  wide  at  bottom,  reduced  to  four  at  top, 
and  of  as  great  a  length  as  can  conveniently  be  had  :  say  fifty 


DOCUMENTS.  39 

or  sixty  feet.  Now,  if  the  supports  are  thirteen  feet  apart, 
these  pieces  will  rest  on  them  in  five  or  six  different  places, 
where  they  can  be  confined  immoveably.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances it  is  not  possible  they  should  warp.  As  pine,  al- 
though sufficiently  strong  to  support  the  weight  of  the  car- 
riages, would  be  too  soft  for  the  rims  of  the  wheels  to  run  on, 
cap-pieces  of  oak,  two  inches  thick  and  four  inches  wide, 
must  be  fastened  on  the  top  of  the  rails. 

But  these  rails  will  be  liable  to  shrink  and  swell  with  "  the 
changes  of  the  weather,  from  hot  to  cold,  and  from  wet  to 
dry."  From  the  observations  I  have  made  on  this  subject, 
the  greatest  variations  of  dimension  in  a  piece  of  timber  of 
four  inches  wide,  does  not,  from  the  joint  operations  of  these 
causes,  exceed  the  eighth  of  an  inch  ;  but  were  it  even  half  an 
inch,  the  effects  apprehended  by  the  Committee  could  never 
occur.  The  extremities  of  the  rims  of  the  wheels  should  be 
about  two  inches  deep,  and  curving  outwards  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  merely  to  squeeze  the  rail  when  on  any  variation  of 
direction,  the  projections  of  the  rims  should  be  made  to  come 
in  contact  with  each  side  of  the  rails.  As,  however,  the 
wheels  to  which  the  shackle  pins  are  fixed,  are  wedged  fast 
to  each  end  of  an  axis  revolving  with  them,  they  are  neces- 
sarily prevented  from  deviating  from  the  line  of  draught. 
And,  as  the  carriages  which  are  drawn  behind  are  firmly  at- 
tached to  each  other,  they  must  all  pursue  one  course. 

For  this  reason,  I  still  continue  decidedly  of  opinion  that 
wooden  railways  will  answer  well  in  practice,  and  be  but 
little  subject  to  wear.  Bat  should  experience  hereafter  prove 
the  fallacy  of  the  ideas  I  now  entertain  respecting  wooden 
railways,  recourse  could  at  any  time  be  had  to  iron.  Not 
one  shilling  of  unnecessary  expense  would  be  incurred.  The 
iron,  whether  wrought  or  cast,  could  be  fastened  on  the  top  of 
the  wooden  rails,  and  the  business  would  be  done.  All  the 


40  DOCUMENTS. 

objections  which  have  been  urged  against  wood,  as  an  unfit 
material,  would  thus  be  completely  obviated. 

But  it  would  be  essentially  necessary  that  "  foundations  be 
laid  below  the  power  of  frost,  and  of  materials  sufficiently 
solid."  And  should  it  also  be  found  necessary  that  the  wheels 
should  be  made  to  run  on  iron,  the  Committee  give  it  as  their 
opinion  that  the  expense  would  exceed  more  than  double  that 
of  a  canal. 

In  support  of  this  assertion  they  exhibit  no  proofs,  they  ad- 
vance no  calculations.  The  Commissioners  themselves  ac- 
knowledge that,  with  respect  to  a  canal,  it  "  would  be  unpar- 
donably  presumptious  should  they  pretend  to  acuracy  of 
calculation."  The  truth  is,  as  I  have  elsewhere  observed, 
that  any  estimation  of  the  cost  of  a  canal,  such  as  is  contem- 
plated, must,  from  the  nature  of  the  business,  be  in  a  great 
measure  conjectural.  In  their  former  report  they  have  stated 
it  at  five  millions,  and  in  their  late  report,  they  sum  up  the 
whole  expense  at  six  millions  of  dollars.  Nine  tenths,  or, 
perhaps  ninety-nine  one  hundredths  of  this  expense  will  be 
incurred  for  labor  bestowed  principally  in  excavating  ground 
at  present  unexplored.  Without  taking  into  calculation,  then, 
the  great  want  of  economy  and  gross  abuses  which  ever  attend 
all  public  works,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  were  the 
estimate  of  the  Commissioners  doubled,  it  would  fall  far  short 
of  the  ultimate  cost  of  the  proposed  canal.  But  as  has  been 
already  well  observed  in  the  report  of  the  Commissioners,  the 
magnitude  of  the  expense  is  not  an  object  of  the  first  moment. 
Were  a  canal  to  cost  ten  times  as  much  as  the  proposed  rail- 
ways, if  decidedly  preferable,  the  difference  of  expense  should 
by  no  means  prevent  it  being  carried  into  effect.  And  so,  on 
the  contrary,  should  the  railways  be  found  most  convenient 
and  eligible,  the  difference  in  expense  ought  not  to  be  regarded. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  a  minute  calculation  of  the  cost  of 


DOCUMENTS.  41 

railways  executed  in  the  most  solid  and  permanent  manner. 
Such,  however,  is  the  nature  of  the  work,  that  the  far  greater 
part  of  it  is  susceptible  of  being  calculated  with  a  great  degree 
of  precision  and  accuracy. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  reduce  the  angle  of  elevation  throughout 
the  whole  course  of  the  railways  so  as  no  part  of  it  shall  exceed 
one  degree.  To  effect  this,  the  hills  must  be  reduced  by  cuttings, 
and  the  valleys  raised  by  mounds.  But  the  expense  of  these 
operations  will  be,  in  no  comparison,  as  great  as  would  be  re- 
quired for  a  canal.  As  the  course  of  a  canal  must  be  level, 
or  very  nearly  so,  the  depth  of  the  cuttings  and  the  elevation 
of  the  mounds  must  be  in  proportion.  The  Commissioners 
have  estimated  the  expenditure  for  "  aqueducts,  embank- 
ments, and  mounds,"  at  one  million  of  dollars.  But  as  they 
have  estimated  the  cost  of  a  mound  over  the  Cayuga  Lake  at 
nearly  one  half  of  this  sum,  there  would  remain  then  about 
half  a  million  to  be  applied  to  these  purposes.  But  for  rail- 
ways no  aqueducts  are  required,  and  as  a  variation  of  one 
degree  from  a  horizontal  line  admits  of  elevations  and  de- 
pressions of  upwards  of  ninety-two  feet  in  a  mile,  it  perhaps 
might  be  practicable  to  carry  the  railway  through  from 
Albany  to  Lake  Erie,  with  scarcely  any  occasion  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  earth.  For  the  reduction,  then,  of  elevations, 
and  the  erection  of  necessary  bridges,  $250,000  appear  more 
than  sufficient ;  but  to  silence  all  cavifl,  we  will  put  it  at  half 
a  million. 

I  have  met  with  no  person  yet,  the  least  conversant  with  the 
subject,  who  entertains  the  smallest  doubt  about  the  strength 
of  wooden  supports.  "Wood,  it  must  be  conceded,  falls  far 
short  of  stone  or  brick  in  respect  of  durability.  But,  as  I 
have  already  stated,  it  may  still  be  the  most  economical  ma- 
terial. Athough,  then,  I  can  see  no  valid  objection  against 
the  use  of  wood,  I  will,  merely  to  satisfy  the  gentlemen  of 


42  DOCUMENTS. 

the  Committee,  substitute  stone  or  brick  in  the  following  esti- 
mate. 

It  may  be  urged  that  extensive  tracts  in  the  course  of  the 
railways  are  destitute  of  stone  proper  for  the  purpose,  and  that 
clay  for  the  making  bricks  cannot  be  found  everywhere.  It 
wili  not,  I  presume,  be  contested,  that  ki  a  distance  of  three 
hundred  miles  through  a  country  no  section  of  which,  except 
from  Albany  to  Schenectady,  is  sandy,  a  number  of  places 
will  be  found  affording  good  building  stone,  and  good  clay  for 
making  bricks.  By  commencing  the  railways  in  the  vicinity 
of  such  places,  stone  and  brick  could  be  transported  to  wher- 
ever these  articles  may  be  wanted,  at  a  trifling  expense.  I 
have  stated  the  actual  expense  of  transportation  at  fifty  cents 
per  ton  for  three  hundred  miles.  Supposing,  then,  that  some 
parts  of  the  way  may  require  a  transportation  of  materials  a 
distance  of  twenty  miles,  this,  at  the  above  rate,  would  amount 
to  three  and  a  third  cents  per  ton.  But,  to  avoid  all  dispute, 
let  the  average  amount  of  expense  of  transportation  of  mate- 
rials be  estimated  at  twelve  and  a^half  cents  per  ton.  We  will, 
in  the  first  instance,  suppose  tne  pillars  are  composed  of  brick, 
six  feet  high,  and  eighteen  inches  square.  Each  pillar  will 
contain  about  two  hundred  bricks.  In  every  thirteen  feet  of 
the  railway  three  pillars  will  be  required,  or  six  hundred 
bricks. 

600  bricks,  at  $3  per  1000,  is     .     .     .  $1  80 

6-10ths  of  a  days'  work  of  a  mason,  .  75 

Do.  of  a  Laborer,    .          60 

Lime,        50 

Digging,  &c.,  .     .     .   M& -. -.  -  v     .    -.  ;v-      35 

$4  00 

for  every  thirteen  feet  of  railway,  or  $20  a  chain,  =$1600 
per  mile.     Should  stone  be  used,  we  may  add  fifty  per  cent, 


DOCUMENTS.  43 

or  $2400  per  mile.  Estimating  timber  at  twelve  and  a  half 
cents  a  foot,  which  is  certainly  more  than  double  what  it  may 
be  got  for,  the  timber  for  the  ways  and  the  carpenters'  work 
would  come  to  about  $1500  per  mile.  There  cannot  be  a 
doubt  that  wrought  iron  is,  on  various  accounts,  preferable  to 
cast  iron  for  the  wheels  to  run  on,  provided  it  is  of  sufficient 
thickness.  I  would  propose,  then,  to  take,  for  this  purpose, 
bar  iron  of  half  an  inch  thick  and  four  inches  broad.  This 
may  be  had,  at  retail  price,  at  six  cents  per  pound  ;  but  cer- 
tainly at  much  less  by  the  larger  quantity.  It  takes  about 
four  cubic  inches  of  wrought  iron  to  make  a  pound  ;  each 
inch,  then,  of  these  bars  will  weigh  half  a  pound,  and  four  of 
them  will  weigh  two  pound  per  inch,  or  twenty-four  pound  per 
foot,  at  six  cents  per  pound  =144  cents  per  foot,  or  $7603 
per  mile'. 

Bar  iron  plates,         $7603 

Brick  pillars,           ....    v-'  •&•  .    1600 
Timber  ways, 1500 

$10,703 

Or,       -..v,: $3,210,900 

for  the  whole  distance  of  three  hundred 
miles.                                                           a 
For  reducing  elevation,  &c., 500,000 


Total,     $3,710,000 

Should  stone,  however,  be  used,  the  expense  will  be  enhanced 
$800  per  mile,  or  $240,000  for  the  whole  distance  ;  making 
a  sum  total  of  $3,950,000. 

Thus,  then,  executed  in  the  most  durable  manner  with 
stone  or  brick  pillars  and  iron  ways,  this  great  undertaking 
could  be  completed  for  a  sum  certainly  not  exceeding  four 
millions  of  dollars. 


44  DOCUMENTS. 

The  only  article  of  expenditure  in  the  foregoing  estimate 
liable  to  uncertainty  is  the  reduction  of  elevations  of  the 
ground  throughout  the  course  of  the  railways,  so  as  not  to 
exceed  one  degree.  But  the  Commissioners  must  have  erred 
very  widely  from  the  truth  in  that  part  of  their  estimate  rela- 
tive to  the  reducing  hills,  and  raising  vallies  to  a  horizontal 
plain,  or  nearly  so,  or  the  sum  assigned  to  the  foregoing  object 
must  be  more  than  sufficient.  The  shortest  distance  between 
Albany  and  Lake  Erie  is  two  hundred  and  eighty  miles, 
whereas  the  Commissioners,  in  their  late  report,  have  con- 
ceived it  necessary,  in  order  to  preserve  the  requisite  levels, 
to  extend  the  route  of  the  canal,  in  a  circuitous  course,  to 
three  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  With  a  rise  and  fall  of  ninety- 
two  feet  in  a  mile,  it  will  by  no  means  be  necessary  for  the 
railways  to  make  so  extensive  a  circuit.  It  probably  will  be 
practicable  to  conduct  these  ways  by  a  route  not  exceeding 
three  hundred  miles.  This  will  not  only  be  a  saving  in 
the  expense  of  construction,  but — what  will  be  much  more 
important — it  will  effect  a  great  saving  in  the  time  and  ex- 
pense of  transportation. 

I  have  now  answered,  and,  I  expect,  satisfactorily,  every 
objection  made  by  the  Committee.  These  objections  are 
aimed  principally  against  the  use  of  wood.  As  iron,  stone, 
or  brick,  are  now  substituted,  they,  of  course,  become  inap- 
plicable. And  as  the  doubt  the  Commissioners  expressed — 
"  whether  an  engine  in  a  wagon  can  work  it  forward  with 
as  much  advantage  as  horses  on  a  road  " — has  not  the  least 
foundation,  the  only  objection  then  remaining  is,  that  the  ex- 
pense of  railways  would  be  more  than  double  that  of  a  canal. 
But  if  the  above  estimate  is  not  very  erroneous,  the  railways 
will  not  cost  one-half  as  much  as  a  canal.  But  as  the  Com- 
missioners in  their  late  report  have  abandoned  the  idea  of 
taking  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  in  an  inclined  plane  to  the 


DOCUMENTS.  45 

Hudson,  a  never-failing  supply  of  water  will  be  required  at 
the  summit  level  or  levels.  It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  tracts 
of  country  become  more  or  less  arid  as  they  become  cleared  of 
timber.  Whether,  then,  a  sufficient  supply  of  water  will  at 
all  times  be  commanded  when  the  country  through  which  the 
canal  has  to  pass  becomes  fully  populated,  is  a  very  serious 
and  important  question.  Besides  canals  are  liable  to  innum- 
erable casualties.  Sudden  torrents  frequently  produce  in- 
calculable mischief.  It  is  often  extremely  difficult  to  prevent 
and  stop  effectually  leaks  in  a  loose  porous  soil.  The  frosts 
in  winter  and  droughts  in  summer  will  occasion  cracks  in  the 
clay.  Vermin  of  various  descriptions  are  perpetually  perforat- 
ing holes.  "Weeds  are  ever  very  troublesome  and  difficult  to 
eradicate.  Their  roots  are  constantly  penetrating  into  the 
loose  earth,  and  occasioning  leaks.  The  locks  are  perpetually 
requiring  repairs.  Whereas,  I  know  of  no  casualties  to  which 
railways,  constructed  as  now  proposed,  are  liable.  Whilst  the 
materials  last  they  must  ever  remain  unaffected  by  anything 
short  of  an  earthquake.  When  it  is  considered,  too,  that  the 
travel  on  these  ways  remains  always,  winter  and  summer, 
uninterrupted — that  there  are  no  locks  or  other  circumstances 
to  occasion  delay,  that  the  expense  of  transportation  would 
not  be  more  than  one-third  of  that  on  a  canal,  and  the  original 
expense  of  construction  not  more  than  one-half — when,  I  say, 
all  these  things  are  taken  into  consideration,  how  can  we 
hesitate  to  give  a  preference  to  the  railways  ? 

But,  notwithstanding  the  many  inconveniences  I  have 
enumerated,  the  great  utility  of  canals  is  "sanctioned  by  ex- 
perience ;"  whereas  the  practical  utility  of  railways  on  the 
proposed  construction,  remains  yet  to  be  ascertained  by  actual 
experiment. 

But  when  millions  are  to  be  expended,  shall  a  few  thou- 


46  DOCUMENTS. 

sand  dollars  be  grudged  to  make  the  experiment  on  an  object 
promising  so  fairly  ? 

But  it  wonld  be  useless  to  pursue  the  subject  farther. 
Should  what  has  been  already  said  be  insufficient  to  open  the 
eyes  of  the  Committee,  I  have  only  to  lament  that  their 
blindness  on  this  occasion  will  certainly  be  followed  by  a  fu- 
ture regret.  A  discovery,  more  especially  a  physical  one, 
when  once  made,  and  its  developement  fairly  exhibited  before 
the  public,  can  never,  if  of  any  importance,  be  lost  or  sup- 
pressed. Sooner  or  later  then,  the  improvement  now  pro- 
posed will  be  brought  into  general  use,  and,  if  I  mistake  not, 
long  before  the  projected  canal  will  be  completed. 

It  will  obviously  occur  that  a  number  of  passages  con- 
tained in  the  report  of  the  Committee  are  not  particularly  no- 
ticed. If,  for  instance,  no  particular  notice  is  taken  of  the 
following  passages,  viz.:  "  If  this  motion  were  produced  by 
force  fixed  to  the  earth,. it  must  not  only  be  equal  to  the 
weight  multiplied  into  the  velocity" — again — "  No  formula 
has  yet  been  discovered  by  which  to  calculate  the  proportion 
between  power,  friction,  and  effect" — "  Still  we  shall  have 
force  100,  and  weight  100  (together  200),  working  with  a 
velocity  of  four  miles  per  hour  by  friction  on  a  railway,"  if 
these  and  some  other  passages  are  not  particularly  noticed, 
yet  a  due  attention  to  what  has  been  advanced  in  the  above 
reply  to  the  Committee's  objections,  will  satisfy  every  impar- 
tial reader  that  they  have  been  all  substantially  answered. 


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